Just Sheep?
by Karen L. Oberst
In church recently we sang “Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down,” by Dave Doherty. I have often sung this and greatly appreciate it. But today it somehow just didn’t sit quite right. The last two sentences read, “For He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture. And the sheep of His hand, just the sheep of His hand.” Ignoring the annoying pronoun usage, what struck me was “just the sheep of His hand.” Just the sheep?
I’m beginning to believe that one of the failings of the Evangelical church is that we think of ourselves only as sheep. There’s a lot to be said for being a sheep, and it’s not totally a bad image. Sheep have a shepherd, someone who cares for them, guards them, and searches for them when they are lost. As the 23rd Psalm reminds us, the shepherd leads us to green pastures, and finds nice quiet bodies of water for us to drink from
The real problem I see with comparing ourselves to sheep and only sheep is that it leaves us dependent. Sheep will always need a shepherd, from birth to death. That certainly isn’t what we want for our own children, to be totally dependent on parents for their entire lives. No! We want our children to learn and grow, to dream their own dreams and fly away from the nest.
Isaiah 40:31 says, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.” Why not adopt that as our image of choice? I believe it would please God if we aspired to be bold and free, daring to do great things for our omnipotent God. In his book Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado says, “God grants us an uncommon life to the degree we surrender our common one.” Do we want to live uncommon lives for God?
If an eagle seems somehow too daring, then consider the butterfly. After a long season as a caterpillar, crawling through life, it is transformed (as we are when we turn to God). Fighting free of its chrysalis prison, it flies off, beautiful and free, giving delight to all those who see it.
These animal metaphors are helpful, but our human role model is, of course, Jesus. He did not spend his days as a sheep, content to live within the flock, and be safely penned up at night. Not at all! He was out amidst the people, working and teaching in ways that amazed them. He touched the unclean and the sick without concern. He faced the authorities of his day without fear, questioning the attitudes and actions of those for whom the rules were most important. He taught about God’s love and generosity and challenges us to live that way too. If we are to truly emulate him as our example, we will also get out there and live in the world, unafraid, generous, accepting of people, working for justice for the poor and disenfranchised, being peacemakers, forgiving those who hurt us – in short, modeling Christ to all we meet.
Sometimes we are hurt or lost or alone, and then being a sheep is comforting. But let us not make that a way of life. Instead, let’s be eagles or butterflies, alive and free, daring great things for our great God.
